Why do some christians hate harry potter?

Question

I read a site dedicated to banning Harry Potter because it talks about witchcraft.

I've met some *some* christians who dislike Harry potter so much they won't let their kids read them and try to get the school to ban the books.

It's just fantasy so why do uptight christians have to ruin it for everyone else.

The bible is bloody and has things like prositution in it. I don't think it should be suitable for children!

Answer 1

I got into a discussion with some fellow Catholics a couple years back about these books, and I determined to read them for myself to find out what the big deal was. After all, our family has always been a fan of the Tolkien books, C.S. Lewis, etc. long before they became movies.

I've read the first five. I can tell you right now that these books do not have much literary merit. They are brain candy. Secondly, the same themes that bothered me, and that were introduced in the first book, were developed more and more throughout the suceeding books, so that there is no doubt in my mind what they are about- Gnosticism.

I consider them a sort of catechism on Gnosticism. If you want your children to become Gnostic, then by all means let them read these books. It seeps into their very bones. Michael O'Brien in his book "A Landscape with Dragons" discusses Gnositcism and it's dangers in children's liertature, but that book was written long before Harry Potter came out. I would be interested if he has written anything since about the Potter books.

It is all there- the secret powers and knowledge passed down zealously guarded and reserved for only a few initiated, good and evil as two necessary sides of the same coin (compare this with the eastern philosophy of the yin-yang- the balance.) This is not even to mention the striking resemblances to real witchcraft which have been extensively critiqued.

And our dear Harry Potter boy is no saint. He is constantly disregarding authority and even does Dumbledore a nasty turn in the last book. "An it harm none, do as thou wilt" seems to be his creed. Especially in the last book I kept trying to find some kind of merit in this boy. There is none. He is not a particularly nice boy. Sympathy was gotten for him in the first book and in every book afterward whenever his aunt and uncle came up, but the boy himself is a selfish, disrespectful, disobedient boy. He is loyal..to his own cronies. He is self sacrificing..to his cronies. There is no higher ideal driving him, it is all centered on himself. If he had been born on the other side of the good/evil balance, then he would have been the same way- for that side.

Even if this book had nothing to do with witchcraft, I would not let my children read them, anymore than I would let them read "Babysitters Club" or the R.L. Stine books or the majority of what passes as "children's literature" now-a-days. Some books can have redemptive qualities about them. Not these books. Any of the good in them (as some have already brought up) are merely a mask, a vehicle for the more potent poison within.

Harry Potter is poison mixed with sugar.

"What then, one might ask, differentiates Rowling's use of magic from that in works by Lewis, Tolkien, and MacDonald? Chiefly, I would suggest, the fact that the latter employ magic within the context of an ordered universe in which evil is bounded by the structural limits of natural law and the goodness of creation. Think, for example, of Lewis' "magic from before the dawn of time" that thwarts the White Witch's attempt to destroy Aslan, or Tolkien's Valar who intervene to limit the power of the decadent Numenoreans. By contrast, Rowling's world lacks moral consistency, since even the magic that she does employ fails to conform to a rationally ordered cosmology. For example, if her characters' bevy of magical powers were to be unleashed simultaneously, sheer chaos would result."
"http://www.leannepayne.org/articles/displayarticle.php?articleid=2

The author, J.K. Rowling stated in an interview, she admitted that she took about one-third of her book from actual British paganism, about 1/3 from British/Celtic/Greek mythology, and about 1/3 imaginative.

http://www.exwitch.org/cms/mod.php?mod=userpage&page_id=10&menu=1204

http://cana.userworld.com/cana_harrypotter.html (a VERY well done critique of the first few books)

I have yet to see an article or a critique from anyone who has been in the occult who doesn't at least have serious concerns with it. I don't think people who allow their children to read it are "bad Christians"- I do think they're treading on dangerous ground.

Response to SpaceBunny: You are absolutely correct. I can't disagree with you. Notice alot of my own digression re: HP wasn't particularly about witchcraft and fantasy, it was about the morality, which I felt that the article in question put in aptly...though indeed scholarly. However the question was why Christians may dislike HP. I put my 0.02 in. Thank you for your terrific response, I know rebuttal does not do yours justice!

Answer 2

Christians believe true magic (not David Copperfield) is bad because it is an attempt to control God and the divine for their own benefit. Some christians think Harry Potter will make people want to learn magic, and that readers of Harry Potter will see magic as a good thing. This is why they hate it; they do not realize that most people understand that it is fiction and that this Harry Potter is no extreme threat, although it may be smart to keep children who don't understand that its fiction from reading it. Its the same concept as keeping children from seeing guns and weapons for fear that they will become violent. As for the Bible it is a tool to spread Gods word and children can wait to read it until they're old enough to fully understand it as long as they understand the message.

Answer 3

I am a strong Christian, and I love the Harry Potter Books. I think that some don't like them because in the Bible it says not to participate in witchcraft.
But reading a children's novel isn't partcipating!
J.K.Rowling (the author of the H.P. Series) is a Christian. Some of the scenes are from Bible stories. I think Harry Potter is fine!

And the Bible doesn't HAVE a prostition. There are MANY translations of the Bible. I have the New International Version and the New Living Translation, and study Bibles for Teens... They're a lot more modern..

Answer 4

Witchcraft is identified as a sin in the Bible. Yes, Harry Potter is fantasy, but some Christians that you claim won't let their children read it because, I'm guessing....

I know several kids who read the books at a young age and like to run around with a "cape" and a broom claiming to be magical, claiming they go to "Hogwarts" and they are a witch or a wizard. It's all in childish fun but some parents just don't wnat their children to see witchcraft, a sin, as cool. They don't want their children exposed to a book about witchcraft, which is...a sin.

I'm Christian, I've read Harry Potter, it doens't offend me, but I can see why it offends others. But don't worry, I doubt Harry Potter will be "banned."

Answer 5

Some christians genuinely feel the book is not appropriate given their belief system. They want to protect their children from what they believe is a harmful influence or idea. While that is an honorable response for a parent, their protection must end at their own children. As a free country, One group doesn't have the right to insist those not of their group must still follow their tenets.

Also, there is a a passage in Exodus (I think chapter 22) that says "Suffer not a witch to live." Many of the scholarly articles I have read on this seem to point out that the term used meant those who practiced harmful magics or magics that would influence someone to do something evil. The original word in Hebrew had a feminine ending, but was used by the Hebrews of that era to identify a collective group that had both male and female practitioners. My studies of linguistics makes me guess (and it is ONLY a guess) that because there were more female than male practitioners, the word naturally acquired a feminine designation. Another possibility is that because these were considered hidden or shadowed practices, they were "feminine" in the Eastern yin/yang meanging.

While I understand that the christian parents fear the influence Harry Potter books may have, they shouldn't dismiss such works out of hand before they themselves read them. If they look past the magic, they would see the book has a much deeper relationship with the morals they espouse - honor, integrity, good defeats evil and pays the price willingly for that defeat (christian martyrs do the same). The book tells about friendship, perserverance, and choosing good over evil.

Finally, I would like to point out that we are NOT a nation founded by christian, god-fearing leaders. We were founded by men who believed that church and state should be separate and everyone free to worship (or not) as they chose. Some of the christians, may want to read about the Jefferson Bible. Jefferson wrote his own version of the Christian Bible. He considered many of the parables and miracles too outlandish to believe, so he edited the Bible to his own tastes. This "god-fearing, christian" leader didn't believe most of the Bible he is purported to have created this nation with. I, for one, applaud his courage and exercise of the free will that the creator gave to all of us. When we allow someone else to do our thinking for us, we condemn ourselves and our "soul" to oblivion.

Okay, I'm off my soap box now! Good journeys and keep an open-mind.

Asha

Answer 6

I've said it before, and I'll say it again -- what's practiced in the Harry Potter books has about as much of a relationship to real-world witchcraft as the Tooth Fairy has to the practice of dentistry.

Most witches I know rather enjoy Harry Potter, because they recognize that it is entirely fantasy. Learning how to speak in fractured Latin is NOT decent training in the arts magical!

Answer 7

I worship God. I don't worship Harry Potter, but I do enjoy the stories. The whole theme of good vs evil is great. Kids are starting to read more because of these books and 99% of the kids (and adults) that read the series, know that this is just a story. Professor Dumbledore represents what is good and true. He Who Must Not Be Named represents what is bad and what could happen to you if you follow his dark ways.

If we start banning books (and movies) that have any kind of "magical" theme to them, most of them would be eliminated. This includes Disney movies and books. Even all the Disney Princess movies have some form of magic in them, but you don't see any controversy over those now, do you. How about CS Lewis' Chronicals of Narnia series? Same there. People try so hard to make something out of nothing.

Encouraging quotes from Professor Dumbledore:

" It is our choices Harry, that show what we trully are, not our abilities."

"To the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."

"It’s the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more."

"You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be."

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."

"I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me... Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."

Answer 8

Many Christians believe that, since witchcraft is in direct conflict with God, there is nothing to be gained by reading the book. I would argue that it is fine to read them, but Christian parents should make sure to emphasize that witchcraft is not compatible with Christianity. I have always enjoyed reading Harry Potter, and although there are several themes which are in conflict with Christianity, there are such themes everywhere one may go.

Answer 9

The bible tells stories of things that happened during that time and the people of that time..

Harry Potter is about witchcraft, which is demonic and Christians do not support it for this reason.

Answer 10

I am a prcticing catholic and an OVER OBBSESSED HP FAN!!!!!! I think some people are looking for something to complain about while others honestly disagree withit. Those people should just not let their families read it. Trying to get it banned will only ruin it for other people. I don't see why they have to cause such big problems over a fantasy book. I think there are too many fans for it to be banned. I can't wait for Deathly Hallows!!!!!

Answer 11

Because they have no sense of perspective. Of all the evils in the world do we really need to take a stand against a piece of fiction that has encouraged millions of children to read? Go protest something important.

And you're right. There are lots of parts of the Bible that aren't appropriate for children.